I hoped to avoid comment on the killing of Harambe the gorilla. But I keep getting asked, so here goes.
Rich is correct, it is not a close call, but I think a bit more needs to be written:
- The sturm und drang over the killed gorilla is a disturbing sign of our emotionally-driven times, in which “feeling” counts so much more than “thinking,” and many seem to value animal life as high–or higher–than that of human beings.
- The life of the child was infinitely more valuable than that of the gorilla.
- The question of whether the gorilla was “protecting” the child is irrelevant. The boy was in mortal danger, whether or not the gorilla intended harm.
- Saving human life is paramount, so in the heat of the mortal danger, I don’t see what other choice could have been made to ensure the child was not injured or killed.
- Drudge used the word, “murder” to describe the killing. He’s hyping clicks (I hope). Only human beings can be ”murdered,” which is a particularly heinous act because it involves the death of a human being.
- It is, indeed, very sad that the gorilla had to die because somebody screwed up so terribly, resulting in the child placed in mortal danger.
- Only humans would care so much about a killed gorilla, our empathy being one of the aspects of our natures that make us exceptional.
- There should be an investigation, and if warranted, legal accountability for the outrageous endangering of the child, whether of the parents or the zoo, or both.
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Here’s the most disturbing part: I suspect many people are more emotional about the killing of the gorilla than they would have been had the child been killed.
LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Human Exeptionalism.
